Fate Versus Fantasy
by Araesson's Storm
Summary: The morning had been going surprisingly well considering the circumstances. They might have been running late to meet with the Marshall, and they might have been without Ebony, but Ignis was in a strangely good mood despite it. Unfortunately, due to the person who had fallen straight onto their windshield, it did not seem his mood was to last.


**This is another collaboration with Arlewena. We own nothing.**

 **The two songs mentioned are Wo Ist Die** **Käse from the Madoka Magica soundtrack and Mordred's theme from the Fate/ Apocrypha soundtrack.**

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 **Chapter 1: Wo Ist Die Käse?**

 _Ignis_

They might be driving straight to another test from the Marshall, but at least he had the aux cord for once. Not that he thought it would do much good against an Imperial Base, but it settled his nerves somewhat to know that at this moment in time, it was within his power to completely and utterly… _unsettle_ his companions.

The only downside was that it seemed to be losing its effectiveness at least where Noctis was concerned due to what was likely overexposure. However, Prompto and Gladio's reactions to the wonderful little tune he'd picked up from one of the animes Noctis had made him watch was more than satisfying. He cheerfully hummed along, not bothering to hide his smirk despite the fact that Noctis had in fact fallen asleep by this point- which was a little insulting, but Ignis was nothing if not adaptable.

His mood was improving by leaps and bounds, until the static started. If he had not plugged in the aux cord himself, he would have thought he was moved out of range of the radio station, or else was picking up another one.

"Um…" Prompto began in a nervously high-pitched tone, "so I mean, I know I was joking about it earlier, but dude, I think you might actually have summoned a ghost with your creepy ghost-summoning songs?"

Preposterous.

Of course, that was when the other tune began to break through, interrupting his sweet revenge. He cast a confused look to Noctis, wondering if Noct was using magic to ruin his plans. Nope. Still sleeping away, oblivious as ever. It was full daylight out, so it was unlikely to be a daemon. Besides, the bits of unfamiliar music he heard were much too wholesome for that. Ignis' gaze turned towards the stereo system, his frown deepening. He tried ensuring the cord was plugged in properly, but the interference only became progressively worse.

… He couldn't have actually summoned a ghost… right?

Ignis' fingers tapped against the wheel, trying to dispel his nerves. He'd listened to that song plenty of times before, so why would it summon something now? Besides, he was quite aware that the words spoke of cheese, not ghosts or any other such nonsense.

Rational thought did not manage to stop him from jumping in alarm as the unfamiliar tune let out a sudden and loud screech of a flute. Before he had time to register what was going on, a person crashed onto the windshield, having appeared out of what looked like absolutely nothing but empty air. He slammed on the breaks, swerving as they slid off the front of the car in an attempt not to harm them further. The other three cried out in alarm as the Regalia spun off road with a piercing screech.

The vehicle came to a stop. Ignis spun around to check on the condition of his companions. Gladio and Prompto looked shaken but unharmed, and Noctis had the bleary-eyed confusion that came with suddenly waking from a nap.

The music had stopped. It was completely silent for a moment, before his song resumed as if nothing had gone amiss.

" _No!_ Turn that _off,_ would you?!" Prompto demanded. Ignis, more shaken than he would like to admit, was quick to comply.

"Huh?" Noct asked, rubbing his nose as his eyes blinked, "Did you hit something, Specs, or was it just another dog or something?" Ignis would like to defend that he had most certainly _not_ hit something, but the person who had fallen onto the windshield served to undermine his defense. He doubted he would be living this down for quite some time.

Right. A person. He'd hit a person. He should go make sure the mysterious hood ornament was not too severely harmed. In a daze, he unbuckled his seatbelt and exited the vehicle.

The person- young woman- was on her feet, scanning their surroundings with what Ignis would guess to be confusion. He couldn't see any sort of injury at a glance, but it would do no harm to ask- after all, she could have some sort of internal injury. Perhaps a concussion or some other head-related injury with how confused she seemed?

"Are you alright?" he asked, taking a few steps closer to the newcomer.

"Huh?" she questioned, her head turning to allow her green eyes to regard him, "Oi, you. Where am I?"

What?… Right. Possible head injury. This might be more serious than he thought.

He took a breath to steady his voice, "We are currently within the northern reaches of Liede."

"And _where_ is that exactly?" the woman asked in an irritated tone. She added a snorted, "I thought the Grail was supposed to fill all that nonsense in for me," in a tone that implied Ignis was not supposed to hear it. Not like they made much sense anyway.

Noct wandered over, running a hand through his hair, and asked, "So is this what you ran over, Iggy?" He had to avert his eyes, his fingers idly pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He had hoped nobody would bring that up.

The woman snorted. "Iggy? What kind of name is that? Whatever. Just answer my question, would you?" Her arms crossed as she shifted her weight, her blonde ponytail swaying with the movement.

Was she asking where _Liede_ was?... Perhaps a foreigner? With head trauma?

"Just to be clear, are you implying that you've never heard of Liede before?" he asked carefully. Was she perhaps from Niflheim? Maybe even a spy. But then why would she pretend not to know where Liede was? He couldn't imagine a spy would be sent in _that_ unprepared. Then again: head trauma.

"I don't ask pointless questions." she huffed.

" _Someone_ woke up on the wrong side of the windshield this morning." Ignis muttered. Beside him, Noctis' eyes widened. The prince quickly schooled his expression, but the way his lips tugged at the corners showed his amusement.

Gladio approached with a charming smile, "So, who's the beautiful woman?"

The woman went rigid. " _Don't._ Call me. A _woman."_ she snarled, her eyes flashing. He could have sworn he saw red lightning around her for a moment, but that was ridiculous. The only time he'd ever seen red lightning before was magitek, but she was not wearing anything of the kind. But Gladio had clearly misstepped.

Ignis just wanted to go back and redo this entire day. Maybe with Ebony this time. They had been out, and unfortunately on a timeline to meet Cor. Speaking of, they were running even _later_ now. What a wonderful impression they must be making on the Marshall.

"Sorry. He's an idiot." Noctis said nonchalantly, drawing the woman's ire away from Gladio, "And my other friend here is suffering from caffeine deprivation, so don't pay too much attention to what he says. He doesn't actually mean most of it. Can I perhaps trouble you for your name?"

The stranger's eyebrows quirked as she snorted, "Maybe if you'd share yours first, stranger. Not polite to ask for introductions without introducing yourself." Not that she was necessarily polite by any means, but she had fallen on their windshield. Ignis supposed he could make allowances for the situation. Besides, he was rather impressed by Noctis' smooth defusing of the situation. The anger had faded, as if it had never been there in the first place.

"Sorry. I'm Noctis. This is Ignis, and the idiots over there are Gladio and Prompto." Noct answered with a bashful smile. Ignis could tell that not even the stranger was completely immune to the melting properties of Noctis' bashful smile. It was entirely unfair. Noctis should not have access to such a weapon, since he already had so many. As the advisor, Ignis should be immune, at the very least.

The woman- or whatever she wished to be called- assumed a strong, proud stance, "I am Mordred, the true heir of Arthur Pendragon."

Prompto leaned closer to Gladio and whispered louder than he likely meant, "Who's Arthur Pendragon?" Mordred's eyes narrowed, but she only seemed slightly more irritated and not angry, thankfully. Ignis could not remember anyone by the name.

Gladio shrugged, no more knowledgeable than Ignis was.

"Okay, so is it just me, or is this reminding anyone else of those weird crossover episodes where someone is from, like, a completely different world or something?" Prompto asked.

Ignis was about to tell him why that was a completely implausible idea when Noctis interrupted in a dazed sort of tone, "Mordred does not belong to Eos."

" _Huh?"_ Mordred began. Ignis was of a similar mindset, well, at least until she elaborated. "What on earth is an Eos?"

Gladio repeated, "... earth? That's… a unique turn of phrase. I've never heard that word used in that phrase before. Are you a devout follower of the Archean or something?"

"Archean?"

… This was getting strange. Ignis did not like it. At all.

Restart. Restart. Come now, just once? Couldn't this all be a horrid dream?... No? Oh, fine. You know what, no. Ignis would just do what he normally did and worry about Noct. He seemed strange. His Noct sensors were usually accurate.

Ignis tapped Noctis on the shoulder to draw his attention. Nocts eyes were uncomfortably unfocused for how awake he had seemed moments before, "Noct?"

Noctis snapped to focus again, stuttering out, "Oh, uh- I have a killer headache. I think Prompto might actually have been onto something this time."

"What, really?!"

"Say, Mordred?" Noctis asked, as if Prompto had not spoken at all, "What do you call your world?"

Mordred groaned, "Earth. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess your world is called Eos?"

"Yup…" Prompto answered, "So this is awkward. This is one of those times where I wished I wasn't right. I mean, I normally want to be right because I never am, but yeah." There was silence as everyone processed this information.

So. Another world. Huh. What could that mean for their world? Were there perhaps other ones, like this Earth Mordred spoke of? Not only that, but apparently it was possible to travel between them. How? Mordred likely had very little information since her apparent world traveling was just as much news to her as it was to them.

Just then, Noctis' phone began to ring. Startled, Noct drew his phone from his pocket and stared dumbfounded at the screen.

It was the Marshall.

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 **Thank you for your time.**


End file.
